Can someone remind me where it is in St. Louis De Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary (Or Secret of Mary) that he says that in his Total Consecration to Mary we should always pray to God through Mary and never directly to God. I remember this specifically being in there but I cannot remember where.

Can someone remind me where it is in St. Louis De Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary (Or Secret of Mary) that he says that in his Total Consecration to Mary we should always pray to God through Mary and never directly to God. I remember this specifically being in there but I cannot remember where.

This may be the reason protestants have problems with Mary.
I cant say I would blame them if this were demanded of anyone.
Thankfully, its just his sprituality and not doctrine or dogma, right?

Not doctrine or Dogma but a very powerful form of spirituality… This was the spirituality of Pope John Paul II, Mother Theresa and her nuns (the sisters of Charity), Fr. Corapi and his priests… Now, I am not saying that they never prayed directly to God, but I do know they were consecrated with The Total Consecration to Mary by St. Louis De Montfort.

I’m pretty familiar with this idea but I don’t think he reccomended it in such a manner. The idea is the Blessed Virgin Mary can make a better presentation to Our Lord than we can ourselves. Its actually common sense since She is infinetly closer to the Trinity than we are. She is the Queen of Heaven.

See, Christ does not deny His Mother, the one who gave Him His adorable human nature:

“There is one small favor I would ask of you,” she said. “Do not refuse me.”
“Ask it, my mother,” the King said to her, “for I will not refuse you.”
~ 1 Kings 2:20

This may be the reason protestants have problems with Mary.
I cant say I would blame them if this were demanded of anyone.
Thankfully, its just his sprituality and not doctrine or dogma, right?

The reason that De Montfort has someone who has consecrated themselves to True Devotion to Mary to pray to Mary and not God is because in consecrating ourselves to Mary we declare ourselves to be her slaves. Our prayers, our works, our everything would be placed in Mary’s hands to do with as she will. So instead of praying to God, we would leave our needs to Mary and she will pass them on.

Now we know that the very fastest way to go to Jesus is through Mary, and that everything she does and asks is pleasing to our Lord, so we have no qualms about joyfully submitting ourselves to be Mary’s slaves.

Of course St. Louis de Montfort would have us pray to God. Some evidence of this:
[LIST]
*]He encourages us to pray the Rosary. The Rosary includes the Our Father (addressed to God the Father) and the Glory Be (addressed to the Trinity).
*]The preparation prayers for the consecration include the Veni Creator and the Litany of the Holy Ghost (both addressed to the Holy Spirit); and the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, the Litany of the Sacred Heart, St. Louis’s Prayer to Jesus, and “O Jesus Living in Mary” (all addressed to Jesus).
*]The Act of Consecration itself begins with a prayer addressed to Jesus (followed by a prayer to Mary).
[/LIST]
When we pray to God through Mary, it’s like a child picking a bouquet of flowers for Dad, and the child asks Mom to help arrange them and make the bouquet more beautiful before presenting it to Dad. We pass our prayers through Mary’s hands so that she will perfect whatever is imperfect in them, so they will be more pleasing to God. We can (and should) often address prayer to God, but we do it in the company of Mary.

We must do all things in Mary; [11] that is to say, we must become accustomed little by little to recollect ourselves interiorly and thus try to form within us some idea or spiritual image of Mary. [12] She will be, as it were, the oratory of our soul, in which we offer up all our prayers to God, without fear of not being heard; she will be to us a Tower of David, in which we take refuge from all our enemies; a burning lamp to enlighten our interior and to inflame us with Divine love; a sacred altar upon which we contemplate God in Mary and with her. In short, Mary will be the only means used by our soul in dealing with God; she will be our universal refuge. If we pray, we will pray in Mary; if we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, we will place Him in Mary, so that He may take His delight in her; if we do anything at all, we will act in Mary; everywhere and in all things we will renounce ourselves.

Is this what you were referring to? If so, strictly speaking, praying “in Mary” is not the same as praying “only to Mary”.

After all, there hasn’t been a single human being to ever walk the face of this planet who even came close to the holiness, submission to God’s Will, humility, and faith that Our Lady demonstrated. I, for one, am grateful that I can place all my prayers to God in her perfect hands, knowing that they’ll be made more pleasing to God for it.

I don’t really believe this means within this spirituality that we cannot pray directly to God, but that through Mary, is the preferred method. As he states “She will be, as it were, the oratory of our soul, in which we offer up all our prayers to God”

Kind of like an orchestra hall. An orchestra hall is designed to take the music and amplify it in such a way that it is not distorted, but rather made even more beautiful. It is designed so that what starts off as a rather small sound can be properly amplified, and not distorted, into something that can be heard a great deal more clearly.

Our Lady is the most perfect orchestra hall ever created, and it only makes sense for us to say our prayers in that perfect environment.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that the idea is that, once a person completes the total consecration, whenever we *think *we are praying directly to God, it is more or less automatically being channelled through Mary to Jesus then through Jesus to God. With or without the intention to do so, this is the most efficacious means of prayer.

In a way, though, de Montfort seems to strip away the humanity and personal touch of Jesus, hiding him in a monstrance and sealing him forever beyond reach in the Holy of Holies. I don’t entirely disagree with his theology, but it’s definitely a theology centralzed upon the lack of involvement of the laity during Mass (specifically the Liturgy of the Eucharist) prior to the Novus Ordo. I’m not saying Christ shouldn’t be afforded the highest respect and adoration, but we must never forget that he remains one of us and yet so much more.

In a way, though, de Montfort seems to strip away the humanity and personal touch of Jesus.

I disagree. Mary leads us to Jesus, she accompanies us on our way to Him, she helps us approach Him with even greater confidence, she remains with us when we are in His holy presence. How can devotion to Mary strip away the humanity of Jesus, when she is the one who gave Him his humanity by carrying Him in her womb and giving birth to Him? When we are devoted to Mary, we can ask her to “loan” us her heart, so that we can receive Jesus with love like hers. There is nothing more intimate and personal.

Picture Mary raising Jesus as a child:
She taught Him to pray and they prayed together and she still prayed apart from Him. I am sure she asked Jesus to pray for certain things.
Now that they are in Heaven together and they are one in each other just as Jesus is one in the Father, she still prays for us TO AND WITH Jesus.

Why would their relationship have changed? She is still His Mother!

Originally Posted by PhilotheaZ:
When we pray to God through Mary, it’s like a child picking a bouquet of flowers for Dad, and the child asks Mom to help arrange them and make the bouquet more beautiful before presenting it to Dad. We pass our prayers through Mary’s hands so that she will perfect whatever is imperfect in them, so they will be more pleasing to God. We can (and should) often address prayer to God, but we do it in the company of Mary.

Originally post by Feedmysheep:
Kind of like an orchestra hall. An orchestra hall is designed to take the music and amplify it in such a way that it is not distorted, but rather made even more beautiful. It is designed so that what starts off as a rather small sound can be properly amplified, and not distorted, into something that can be heard a great deal more clearly.

Our Lady is the most perfect orchestra hall ever created, and it only makes sense for us to say our prayers in that perfect environment.

Can someone remind me where it is in St. Louis De Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary (Or Secret of Mary) that he says that in his Total Consecration to Mary I remember this specifically being in there but I cannot remember where.

Dear Steve, my friend

I wouldn’t agree with “we should always pray to God through Mary and never directly to God.” It’s not scriptural.
The disciples asked Jesus how to pray.
He taught them the Lord’s prayer, "Our Father…

“We are quite confident that if we ask Him for anything, and it is in accordance with His will, He will hear us; and knowing that whatever we ask, He hears us, we know that we have already been granted what we asked of Him.” [John 5:14-15]

Jesus urges us to the Father, “Go into your private room and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.” Jesus also desires community prayer, in addition to private prayer, for He says, “if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.” [Matthew 18:19-20]

“We are quite confident that **if we ask Him **for anything, and it is in accordance with His will, He will hear us; and knowing that whatever we ask, He hears us, we know that we have already been granted what we asked of Him.” [John 5:14-15]

“There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 4:6-7]

Paul pledges that the “Spirit…comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit Himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what He means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.” [Romans 8:26, 27]

Jesus promises, “Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches, always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. Is there a man among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake when he asks for a fish? … How much more will **your Father **in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” [Matthew 7:7-11]

“Your Father knows what you need even before you ask Him.” [Matthew 6:9]

Warmly, Trishie

I would ask Mary to intercede. Mary interceded at Cana, though Jesus granted her request, He gave no statement like the one attributed to St. Louis De Montfort.
Jesus also said that if we **ask the Father **anything in His name, He will give it to us.

So would you then say that this statement would be heretical: “Mary will be the only means used by our soul in dealing with God”

No, it is not heretical, not unless you’re confusing the end with the means.

The *end *of all prayer is union with God.

Using Mary as the means simply suggests that we permit her to always accompany us, assist us in approaching God. We make our prayers to God, but we send them along in her hands.

It does not mean that we only pray to Mary. It means that we frequently call her to mind and ask her assistance.

In the Old Testament, you see that the queen mother (the mother of the king) had a very important role. She was able to obtain special favors from her son (the king) on behalf of her subjects. Mary fills this same role for us. She is the queen mother of Christ the King. When we need a favor from this King, we can ask for her intercession. We can ask her to pray for us, or we can pray to Him and ask her to convey our prayer to Him.

We don’t have to do this consciously every time we pray to God. It’s a general mindset — we have consecrated ourselves to her, we have promised that everything that is ours (including our prayers) belongs to her (and through her, to God, since she keeps nothing for herself). We can pray directly to God whenever we like, with the assurance in the back of our minds that she is always there with us.

I was thinking, that if it were true the only way to pray properly was to Mary so she could purify my prayers, this is almost like Lutheran theology of we are all piles of :whistle: and need a blanket of grace to make us okay without us doing anything. But, then again I just left it up to God. I can still give Devotion to Mary, and it can still be true without using this spirituality as my guide.
I thank the posters who clarifyed for me that its quite alright to pray to God when one wants to. Heaven knows, for me right now I have a lot of catching up to do with my Father. I do, as many posters here may know- have a desire to know Mary as well- but I need to build on Jesus first, and continue to ask him a lot of things in my prayers. I still find time to think of Mary, and the depth of her meaningful engagement with God, But I need to find myself as a child of God in order to go farther. I am not being critical of this spirituality, and I hope I did not offend anyone who chooses it, I just find it so odd to say its the only way. I am getting a closer understanding of Mary FROM praying to Jesus.
I am seeing him as a helpless child (this makes me think of Mary) I am seeing him as one who needs to be cared and loved, taught his prayers, ect. I also see Joseph, when he worked with him I assume, in their everyday life. And Mary making them both a meal, and then their prayers together as a Holy Family. And, so much more.

Maybe I am seeing this wrong. But, its good to see others ideas.
Right now, this idea is too extreme for me personally. Maybe its because I am “new”, or maybe its because it does not make enough sense. Only Jesus knows my heart and ability to take this in. I dont think he despises my requests to hear me in prayer though. No matter how much cleaning up they need, they are all from the heart of my soul. He alone can read hearts from what is in the bible that I even remember reading.